


the people waiting for you

by psychopass



Series: nijiaka week [3]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: ? kind of, M/M, btw they are older, but no one actually dies, death mentions, future!fic, so hence the summary, they're 21 and 22, this is kind of angsty idk i made myself sad, too bad it isnt a happy one haha, written for nijiaka week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-20 23:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3669657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychopass/pseuds/psychopass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nijimura hates hospitals, hates the food and the instant coffee, he hates the smell of medicine and most of all, he hates how they take away the ones he love: he doesn’t want Akashi to leave, Akashi can’t leave…twenty one years isn’t long enough, it isn’t long enough at all, not when there had been promises of all those years ahead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the people waiting for you

**Author's Note:**

> warning: i apologize if there are any mistakes, i wrote this on a whim and did not have time to edit it

The same thought keeps running through Nijimura's head: if only you hadn't been so stubborn about your work, if only you hadn't left when it was so dark, if only, if only...

 

The hospital walls are gray and old and Nijimura can't help but feel a sense of impending doom as he sits in the plastic red chair of the hospital. Red, like his hair. Red, the color Nijimura saw when he heard the news. Red, the color of blood.

 

He stares at the boy lying in front of him: unconscious and barely alive. IV lines are hooked up to his body, the monitors beeping in the background and the steady hum of the machine make Nijimura jittery. He can hear Akashi's shallow breathing. Akashi would have hated how vulnerable he looked now: unable to move, only breathing with the help of an oxygen mask, his skin is a sickly pale and his red hair is the only thing that stands out against the white hospital sheets.

 

Nijimura laces his fingers with Akashi's own: they are cold and lifeless, and Nijimura feels his heart grow even heavier. He has been in the hospital more than he would have liked, watched his father grow weaker and weaker until his time finally came and the monitor stopped beeping: Nijimura was sixteen then and he had never seen anything more terrifying than the straight line that came on the screen with all the nurses rushing around and calling the doctor, and one of them telling Nijimura what he already knew: his father was dead. It has been roughly six years since then, and now he fears that he will have to see it again.

 

(Nijimura hates hospitals, hates the food and the instant coffee, he hates the smell of medicine and most of all, he hates how they take away the ones he love: he doesn't want Akashi to leave, Akashi can't leave. . .twenty one years isn't long enough, it isn't long enough at all, not when there had been promises of all those years ahead.)

 

But promises are broken, especially when you are dating the CEO of one of the most successful companies in the world, of course there are people out to get you. (There always are, Nijimura recalls bitterly. Why did you have to leave work late that day?)

 

He hadn't even known until the hospital had phoned him and he has never felt more helpless in his life. Residents in the area heard the gun go off and called the ambulance as fast as they could. (Akashi Seijuro is the perfect being, he seems inhuman at times, Nijimura thinks, shaking. He never wanted to see the day where Akashi Seijuro bled just like any other human. But unfortunately, there were people that did.)

 

"There's a stray cat that's been hanging around the apartment area lately," Nijimura says softly, reaching out his other arm to play with Akashi's hair; it is still incredibly soft. "You like cats, don't you? I wonder she would like you? She almost scratched me the other day." He has done this everyday for the past few days, telling Akashi of what has been going on; he would have stayed all night if the nurses did not kick him out at midnight and Tatsuya did not phone regularly to make sure that Nijimura was indeed going to work and taking care of himself.

 

He has read all the newspaper headlines and all the online articles: the suspect was still on the run, rumors were flying around, many mourning the young man, bemoaning his long and prospectus future which was on the verge of ending. Nijimura feels sick reading some of them, for they do not know the Akashi he knew - they did not know the Akashi who loved tofu soup and had a soft spot for cats, nor did they know the Akashi who secretly loved cuddling and watching cheap action movies, if only to guess every single plot event. They only knew they saw, and yet they claim that he was a friend they would dearly miss - polite and chivalrous, firm but forgiving. Nijimura is sure that Akashi would read these articles in distate as well, they do not understand him, only idolize him, it is the one thing Akashi despises the most and the reason his friendship circle has always been rather small.

 

Among the few of his friends, the rest of the Generation of Miracles had already dropped by, first individually and then again, all at once. The six of them have never faltered in their friendship, even after all these years. Even that redhead Kagami Taiga came to visit, looking distinctly uncomfortable and out of place, and Nijimura wants to shake Akashi awake and tell him that he cannot die: not with all these people counting on him to wake up.

 

Murasakibara had flown all the way from France in his pastry shop to see the Aka-chin that gave him snacks in middle school; a memory that was sweeter than the cakes he decorated. Kise had cancelled all his photo shoots in an upcoming trip to Europe to instead rush to the hospital and visit the Akashi that had welcomed him into the first string, the one with a kind of perfection even Kise could not copy. Aomine and Kagami, both now on national teams, had skipped basketball practice to see the redhead, whom even though they were never particularly close to, had crushed their egos and reminded them of their place: something they did not know the egotistical aces did not know they needed until much later.

A teary eyed Momoi had burst through the door, grieving over her dear captain: the one who had listened to her when everyone else believed she was all beauty and no brains, the one who had strategized with her and together had built plays that made Teiko as invincible as they were. Midorima came in with his doctor coat and glasses, no lucky item in sight, as no horoscope would save Akashi. And although he did not work there, Midorima had immediately started checking on the equipment, making sure Akashi was okay, proclaiming it was his duty as a doctor to make sure his friend stayed alive, with the fact that he was not going to lose his valued shogi partner - he had a new tactic against Akashi, Midorima said stiffly. He would very much want to make sure he had the chance to test it against him.

Kuroko came in last, his presence still as low as it was when Nijimura had known in middle school. Akashi, who had showed him his way of basketball, the one who had changed Kuroko's life had in turn, been saved by Kuroko in their first year of high school. He has heard Akashi tell these stories a million times, memories of what the Miracles would do, a kind of dysfunctional friendship only the six of them shared and he wants to tell Akashi that he will have many more stories, if only he would wake up.

 

Nijimura looks at Akashi (he is going to be okay, Nijimura repeats, he is going to be okay, Akashi Seijuro does not lose, isn't that what he always said?) and he bows his head again, tears threatening to spill. Akashi had first been his kouhai, then his vice captain, his successor and only much later, his friend and lover and the thought of losing some one so important to him makes his heart ache.

 

"Damn it, Sei," he chokes, his grip on Akashi's hand tightening. "I can't lose you, too."

 

The hospital doesn't want to give him an answer, nor does the patient. The only response Nijimura receives is the beeping of the monitor, reminding him that Akashi is still alive: maybe barely, but still so.

 

(It is good enough for now, Nijimura thinks, it is good enough for now.)

**Author's Note:**

> endings what are endings? how does one end a story well, i wouldn't know ;(
> 
> this ship has more angst potential than it should and now i am sad and want to give both of them a hug (im not even sure if this is good angst, but i like to pretend i can write angst so shhhhhh)


End file.
